In keeping with the Annenbergs’ foundation directive, Sunnylands has hosted three high-level retreats.

In conjunction with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, The Retreat at Sunnylands brought together former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Congresswoman and Wilson Center President/CEO Jane Harman; Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; Mexican Ambassador to the United States Arturo Sarukhan; and other political, academic, and media leaders to discuss relations between the United States and Mexico. On July 11, Cowan presented a white paper from the three-day retreat (March 29-April 1) to key members of Congress at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.

The return to power of Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, will not be accompanied by the corruption that used to plague the party, says Arturo Sarukhan, the Mexican ambassador to the U.S., and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

At a panel hosted Tuesday by Richardson and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson Center, Sarukhan wouldn’t say whether he’d stay in his post if President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto asked him. But he said the PRI and the Mexican population have shifted, and that the country’s maturing democracy would not allow anyone to “turn back the clock.”

The Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands and the Wilson Center seized the opportunity provided by simultaneous election years in the United States and Mexico to convene a high-level retreat of preeminent political, business, academic, and media leaders from the two countries in March 2012. From this retreat emerged a fresh set of ideas to take the bilateral partnership to a new level that are put forth in the report, A Stronger Future: Policy Recommendations for U.S.-Mexico Relations. The report presents recommendations to enhance regional competitiveness; reform the U.S. immigration system; more effectively fight organized crime and strengthen public security; further educational exchanges; increase energy cooperation; and develop ports of entry that strengthen trade and border security.

Yahoo News, 5/23/2012
Interview with Arturo Sarukhan, Mexican Ambassador to the United States, for ABC News

Last week the Zetas cartel of Mexico dumped 49 decapitated bodies on a highway about 100 miles southwest of Texas border, in the latest massacre in the ongoing fight between Mexican drug cartels.

The drug war in Mexico has claimed over 50,000 victims since 2006 and even though it’s on the border with the United States, it is one of the least reported international stories. These gangs, particularly the Zetas and the Sinaloa Cartels, have become so powerful that local governments are outmanned and outgunned- left to call in Mexican armed forces to contain the gunfights.

It’s become an impossible story to report. Since 2007, 13 journalists have been killed in Mexico and many have sought refuge in foreign countries including three who were granted asylum in the United States and Canada, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

To discuss the issue Christiane Amanpour sat down with someone on the front lines in this battle Arturo Sarukhan, the Mexican Ambassador to the United States. In an extended interview, Ambassador Sarukahn spoke candidly about the stakes of this fight, what “victory” will look like, and the important parallel future the United States and Mexico share.

At a recent event, the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute introduced a new publication, Working Together: Economic Ties between the United States and Mexico. The ensuing discussion focused on two economies joined at the hip and how enhanced cooperation could result in much-needed job creation. That’s an outcome that would be welcomed on both sides of the border. To further explore the economic ties that bind the two North American neighbors, we spoke with former United States Trade Representative, Carla Hills, and Mexican Ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s suggestion that the United States may send troops to fight Mexican drug cartels riled officials and spurred debate from analysts on both sides of the border Monday.

Mexico’s top representative in the United States rejected the idea, which the Republican presidential candidate mentioned at a New Hampshire campaign stop Saturday.

Mexican Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan told reporters his country’s longstanding opposition to the presence of American forces had not changed.

“It may be well-intentioned, but it has the potential of really undermining cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico,” said Eric L. Olson, who studies security relationships between the neighboring countries at the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington.

“If there’s a perception in Mexico that this is all designed somehow as a backdoor entry into Mexico by the U.S., if there’s a perception that this is leading to the United States’ direct intervention into Mexico, it puts at risk all those cooperative efforts,” Olson said.